N.Y. GIANTS (Car. in Munich): The Giants have the league’s lowest-scoring team, but here’s a rare week where they have some potential to finish with above-average numbers.
This snippet was first published on November 6.
Carolina’s defense has been that bad, allowing a league-high 32.6 points per game. The Saints, with a comedy of missed opportunities, scored only 22 points at Charlotte on Sunday, but the Panthers have allowed at least 3 TDs to every other offense they’ve faced. The Giants, on the other hand, have at least been decent at times, gaining 432 and 421 yards in their games at Seattle and Pittsburgh. They’ll score 2 TDs in this one, with a good chance they also score a third.
Tyrone Tracy should put up top-10 numbers among running backs. While he’s light on experience, he’s shown he can play, with 129 yards at Seattle and 145 at Pittsburgh. More notably, he’s working against the league’s worst run defense – by far. The Panthers are allowing a league-high 159 rushing yards per week. Every opponent has run for a touchdown against them, and almost half have run for multiple touchdowns. Tracy isn’t a big factor in the passing game (6 catches for 17 yards in the last three weeks) but some chance he leads the entire league in rushing in Week 10.
We’ve trotted out the idea of using Daniel Jones as a spot starter a few times; it usually doesn’t end well. He’s thrown 2 TDs in four games, but he hasn’t thrown any in his other five. He’s thrown for more than 205 yards in only four starts, and in only two of those games did the decent passing yards link up with multiple touchdowns. He’s not a good quarterback. But he’s working against a baby-soft defense. The Panthers are allowing 239 passing yards per week, with 18 TDs – an average of 2 TDs per week, and only two teams have finished with just one touchdown pass. Fair to worry some about the Giants heavily relying on the run, but it’s looking like Jones probably will pass for something like 220 yards and a couple of touchdowns. And he’s been running more of a late (perhaps in hopes of sticking around in 2025). Both of Jones’ games with over 50 rushing yards have come in the last four weeks, and he just scored his first rushing touchdown of the season.
Malik Nabers hasn’t scored since Week 3, but this looks like a game where he could really bust out – with scoring and production up against a lesser opponent. The usage has been there all along, with Nabers averaging 7.9 catches for 80 yards per week. They haven’t done a good job getting him downfield (five games in a row, he’s averaged under 11 yards per reception). But this isn’t a week those with Nabers want to miss out on.
Those in need of a tight end to fill in for Week 10 will want to add Theo Johnson to their list of possibilities. They’ve been using him more recently (no catches against Philly, but at least 3 in his last four other games, and he just scored his first touchdown). This is a friendly opponent, allowing almost as many touchdowns to tight ends (7) as wide receivers (9). The last 5 TD passes thrown against Carolina have all gone to tight ends.
Wan’Dale Robinson is a peashooter receiver, averaging only 6.7 yards per catch. He hasn’t averaged over 10.0 in any game. But he’s seeing the ball plenty, averaging over 7 catches per week. That gives him some baseline value in PPR formats. He’s caught 2 TDs (not great, but only one less than Nabers).
Darius Slayton is a sneaky effective deep threat. It would have been nice to see him moved to a better situation prior to the trade deadline. Playing alongside Nabers and Robinson, there’s too much potential for him to be underused (particularly in this kind of game, with the Giants maybe running a bunch). Slayton caught 14 passes and a touchdown in the two games Nabers missed, but he’s caught only 18 passes in the seven games where everyone’s been available, with no touchdowns.
With three different kickers, the Giants have scored only 55 points on field goals and extra points, but top-10 production looks possible this week, given the opponent. Carolina is allowing a league-high 9.4 kicking points per week. It should be either Jude McAtamney or Graham Gano handling the position. Gano has been on IR since injuring his hamstring in Week 2. McAtamney had attempted only 2 kicks as a pro – a 31-yard field goal and an extra point on Sunday after coming up from the practice squad. He went 3-for-3 in the preseason.
The Giants Defense has intercepted only one pass all year, which is weird, with them leading the league in sacks – almost 4 per week. Typically, when the ball has to come out quickly, more interceptions occur. The opponent this week could help, with Bryce Young having thrown 6 picks in his four starts. Carolina shockingly is allowing fewer than 2 sacks per week (with its quarterbacks tending to get rid of the ball) but some sense in rolling with the Giants in this one. We’ll call the special teams above-average, with Ihmir Smith-Marsette having scored on a punt return for Carolina last year and having had multiple good returns this season. He may be a little juiced up to play against his former team.
This report is just a small snippet of the Week 10 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly, part of the In-Season Analyst & Super Fanatic Packages. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 20-plus pages of matchup previews, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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